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Famed the world over for their spectacular skills,
Brazil landed on the shores of the United States for one reason and
one reason alone - to get their hands on the FIFA World Cup
™. The three-time champions had waited 24 long years
for another success on the world stage and, under coach Carlos
Alberto Parreira, they arrived willing to swap some of the joy and
exuberance of their forebears for the sound tactics and clinical
determination they believed would lead them to gold.

If the tough-tackling Dunga was the leader of this
Brazil team, their hopes rested more than anything on the striking
tandem of Romario and Bebeto. One-time colleagues at Vasco da Gama
but now rivals with their respective Spanish clubs, Barcelona and
Deportivo La Coruna, together they formed a lethal pairing - and
had already contributed five of Brazil's seven goals in the
tournament, including Bebeto's winner against the hosts in the
second round.

This was the Brazilians' first competitive
meeting with the Netherlands since 1974 and a second group stage
match that Cruyff and Co won to advance to the final. The Oranje
had surprisingly finished second to Saudi Arabia in their
first-round group and without the injured Marco van Basten and Ruud
Gullit, who quit the squad after falling out with coach Dick
Advocaat, they seemed a less cohesive version of their former
selves.

With forwards such as Dennis Bergkamp and Marc
Overmars, the Dutch undeniably boasted an attacking threat, yet
going into this quarter-final contest it remained to be seen how
their defence would cope - and in particular, how those old
campaigners Ronald Koeman and Jan Wouters would fare against
Brazil's quick-footed, and equally quick-witted, front pairing.
As it was, they contained them quite comfortably during a first
period which offered little indication of the fireworks to
follow.

The Dallas crowd saw few scoring chances before the
break. Following Aldair's foul on Peter van Vossen, Bergkamp
nodded a free header over Taffarel's crossbar. Mauro Silva
sizzled a shot just wide at the other end. Yet amid the stalemate,
Romario roamed menacingly, always sniffing for scraps. And
suddenly, with half-time approaching, he and Bebeto combined
brilliantly, their inter-passing nearly opening up the Dutch
defence only for the final touch to go begging.

For the Netherlands, the let-off was only temporary.
The blue-shirted Brazilians came alive after the restart and within
eight minutes, they were in front. After a Dutch attack broke down
with Frank Rijkaard's sloppy pass, Brazil countered. Bebeto
collected a long ball out the left and laid a low cross into the
path of Romario who let the ball bounce in front of him before
steering it coolly past Ed de Goey. The Seleção strikers were soon
looking for more: Bebeto broke through and slipped a shot off the
outside of the post, then De Goey smothered a Romario effort.

The second goal arrived after 64 minutes and this
time Bebeto was the scorer. Thinking the backtracking Romario was
offside, the Dutch defence paused fatally as the ball was headed
back into their half from De Goey's long kick. Bebeto seized
the initiative. After evading Wouters' desperate challenge, he
rounded the keeper and slotted into the open goal before racing to
the corner for a memorable baby-cradling celebration with Romario
and Mazinho - in honour of his new born back in Brazil.

All looked lost for the Dutch yet within 60 seconds,
they were back in the game. A long throw found Bergkamp sneaking
into the box and after skipping in between three defenders, he
slipped the ball across Taffarel and into the corner to make a goal
- quite literally - out of nothing. Advocaat's men began to
believe again and in the 75
th minute, Bergkamp was appealing loudly for a penalty
after the ball struck the hand of Marcio Santos. Seconds later,
though, the Dutch were celebrating again: Overmars sent over the
ensuing corner and Aron Winter beat Taffarel to the ball and headed
home.

Yet Parreira's Brazil kept their focus and with
nine minutes remaining, they found the winner through an unlikely
source. A veteran of Mexico 86, full-back Branco was only playing
because of the ban imposed on Leonardo, whose elbow had seriously
injured the American Tab Ramos in Brazil's last match. After
winning a free-kick over 25 metres out, the 30-year-old produced
one of the goals of the tournament. Following a long run-up, he
released a venomous, swerving strike that flew past the wall and
into the far corner. Brazil were into the semi-finals for the first
time since 1970.

Eight days later, and some 1,500 miles across the US
in Pasadena, Branco's trusted left foot would serve Brazil well
again as he converted one of the penalties with which they finally
claimed that much-wanted fourth FIFA World Cup in a penalty
shootout against Italy. If the goalless 120 minutes that preceded
it failed to show the best of Romario and Co, nobody in the famous
yellow shirts seemed to mind. For Parreira's men, it was
mission accomplished.